The Mystery of the Fire Meadow
by NekoNessa017
Summary: Moonlight makes a bet with her friend Nala. If she can go into the Fire Meadow and return safely, she will receive a bag of oats as payment. She learns that sometimes, legend is based on actual happenings.


By: NekoNessa017

One day, Moonlight, a horse, was walking to her house. On her way, she passed Fire Meadow. Everybody was talking about it. Rumor is it's haunted. Some say horses go in as themselves but return different. Out come horses with coal-black coats, steel hooves, and blood-red eyes. Others say horses go in and never return. Moonlight thought it was an urban legend to get foals and fillies scared.

"Well, if you think it's a silly legend," Nala, Moonlight's friend commented, "You go check it out!" A silent gasp erupted from the crowd, and they turned slightly pale from fright. Moonlight, a beautiful, well-built beige horse with a flowing off-white mane and tale responded, "I will, and whatever clues that are in the meadow will surely help me solve the mystery there!" Scattered whispers were heard. "Okay, if you make it through without being cursed-or killed," replied Nala, "I will pay you a bag of oats."

"Okay." came the response. "But," Nala continued, "If you don't make it back, you will pay me a bag of oats. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, we have a deal." Moonlight stated. Soon, she was walking to the meadow. When she entered, she cautiously looked around for anything suspicious. She noted the grass was a different color. It was yellow instead of green. She then noticed the deathly quiet in the meadow. She looked around again and saw a horse that was familiar to her. Before she could call out to it, there was a blinding flash closely followed by a BOOM! After her vision cleared, Moonlight returned her gaze to the horse that was there earlier. It wasn't there anymore! In its place was a monster-horse, two-times bigger than before, with a coal-black coat, steel hooves, and blood-red eyes! She gaped in horror. _It wasn't even a rumor! _She thought to herself. _It was true all along! _She glanced around Fire Meadow once more and her eyes stopped on a dead tree stump. Standing on top of it was an evil-looking man dressed in black from head to toe, hiding his face from everyone and everything; only his eyes were showing. They were a hard grey. He also had a deathly pale color to his skin. She stared at the man in astonishment. He was torturing the horses by hitting them with his hands as they walked by. His gaze shifted towards Moonlight. In his hand, something was forming.

She knew what he wanted her to do. She wouldn't dare do it. After holding his gaze for a few moments, she whinnied angrily and the fight was on! The ball was thrown from his hand and headed straight towards her. Moonlight merely sidestepped and it narrowly missed her forelegs. _So, you want to fight? _She thought. She faked a run and watched as he transformed another horse into a monster horse. _It's a spell! _She frantically realized. She was afraid at first, but anger was bubbling up inside her. She couldn't let this happen! She charged forward and rammed the guy hard in the back. He fell to the ground, stunned. Moonlight charged again and went to stomp him into the ground, but he dodged the blow and sprang up. He spun on his heels and faced his attacker. Horse and human stared each other down a few moments, and then he swooped down and threw rocks at her. She easily dodged it and ran head-on to the trouble maker, butting him squarely in the chest. The guy fell onto his back and had the wind knocked out of him. He quickly recovered and continued throwing more rocks at Moonlight. One cut deep into her leg, and she shrieked in pain. Thinking that that caught her off-guard, he was forming the ball to change her, but she was bucking furiously. Moonlight caught him in the chin and he flipped over a few times and landed on the ground, crippled and unconscious. The fight was over, and Moonlight limped home.

A few days later, her wound had healed fully, and was just a scar. Moonlight then heard the news that Fire Meadow was back to normal, as were the cursed horses, and the man that was changing these innocent horses was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Now leading a few horses, including Nala, to the new Fire Meadow, she told them the story on how she beat the guy, and how it changed when he was knocked out. "There was a brilliant flash of colors, and everything, including the horses that were cursed, was back to normal." She finished her story. There was a great noise that split the air as the horses cheered for her. After a few minutes of nonstop cheering, it quieted down. Moonlight was happy. After the cheer, Nala paid Moonlight the oats she owed her. After this, all of them went into the meadow and frolicked until the sun was at the horizon.


End file.
